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Post by Featherwing on Dec 21, 2016 23:01:24 GMT -5
Greetings and Welcome Hello my dear ones, it's been a while. I've got a bit of a plan, you see. I did some research on domestic cat behaviour and as it turns out, they are highly matriarchal. So, for the sake of my own love of realistic cat behaviour in rps, I've decided to make one clan that adheres to somewhat realistic cat social structure. I could be persuaded to making two clans, but lets start with one and work our way through it.
I was thinking we have four sisters who are the "leaders" of the clan. I chose the number four because it allows for more plot possibilities– that and if we do decide to split into two clans, two sisters could go to one, and two in the other. HOWEVER for now this a ONE CLAN rp– well, I shouldn't call it a "clan" because we will be working within the constraints of a realistic cat clutter.
For a little more detail on the clutter– Siblings, particularly females, share a strong bond amongst domesticated cats. Females will raise kittens together, chase off intruders, bring food to one another– the bonds are incredibly complex. Males in the bonded pairs assist with these chores and often end up babysitting the kittens (much like lion behaviour though I have found only one source on the matter and am looking into more articles that can confirm this). Outsider cats are usually invited into the clutter after a number of positive social interactions– strangers cannot be expected to be welcomed if they waltz into the territory, they are instead likely to be injured or killed first and questions asked later. There is often an alpha cat (usually the oldest female) that enjoys the highest status and privileged access to resources however for the purpose of this rp there will be 4 "alpha" cats who share the highest status. Other cats usually decide who owns everything else on a case-by-case basis, and in some cases ownership of prime sleeping spots and other resources changes daily. Again, we will likely modify this behaviour slightly to make it easier on the rpers. Likely we will stick with the matriarchal aspect, because I don't see that being a trait of most other rps.
I have an idea that the four sisters invited a few of their rogue acquaintances to live with them in their den that they've carved out from under a tree. The 'reasons' the sisters started inviting others to live with them can be developed as we work up the history. To reiterate what I've said earlier, the sisters reside at the top of the social hierarchy because it is ultimately their territory, they claimed it first and the others were invited at the leisure and pleasure of the sisters.
I will requite assistance with coding, territory, history, main plots, mini plots, traditions/ceremonies, social structure titles and how the hierarchy will change with the death of a member, etc.
I hope you will consider assisting me with this project  Banner made by me with the image made by Wayne McLoughlin |
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Post by Featherwing on Dec 21, 2016 23:20:48 GMT -5
Thank you: sweetclover1
~Spiriteddecay~
Silverheart
𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓛𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓦𝓸𝓵𝓯
Helper
Helper
Territory: blah blah stuff goes here.
History: blah blah stuff goes here.
Social Stuff: Social Hierarchy goes as follows:
The Four Sisters [ delegated as the "leaders" because it was their territory first ]
The Council [ made up of four respected cats, one from each skill discipline ]
Queens [ and kits ]
Elders
Everyone else in the Clutter
Social Structure is as follows:
Feral cat clutters are usually made up of females, their young, and the males that stick around to assist with the kittens and for safety reasons. Strangers are invited to join after a number of POSITIVE social interactions and for the purpose of this rp, the Sisters must all agree unanimously that another cat may join the Clan. The Council is for back up votes in this case. There are four disciplines of skill in terms of the organization of everyone else: Healing, Hunting, Fighting/Defending, and History Keeping. Apprentices are taught the basics of all four skills and will usually have shown some sort of prowess in one class or another. This does NOT mean your cat is the "best" at whatever they do, it just means that they have a proficiency for it. It also doesn't mean that only lithe cats can be hunters and only large cats can be defenders. Body type may have something to do with the selection process however, again, it is the skill the apprentice is better at that gets developed. The group is not a Clan but instead referred to as the Clutter.
"While there are dominant and subordinate individuals in a cat colony, unlike dogs, cats don’t maintain a clearly defined hierarchy wherein each individual is ranked above or below each other individual. There is often an alpha cat (usually the oldest female) that enjoys the highest status and privileged access to resources. Other cats usually decide who owns everything else on a case-by-case basis, and in some cases ownership of prime sleeping spots and other resources changes daily." - metaphoricalplatypus article on feral cats
Clutter name:
The Four Sisters:
The Oldest/The Wisest [Claimed by Featherwing] -- Violet
The Gentlest (Second Oldest) [Claimed by ~Spiriteddecay~] --
The Sharpest (Middle Child) [ Claimed by 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓛𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓦𝓸𝓵𝓯] --
The Youngest/The Wildest [Claimed by sweetclover1] --
Skill Disciplines are as follows:
Defenders (Discipline)– The ones who [obviously] defend the territory, patrol, etc. They are occasionally referred to as the Brigade or Glaring.
Healers (Discipline)– The ones who take care of the healing aspects of the clan. The smallest class, few have what it takes to be a healer.
Hunters (Discipline)– The ones who hunt, scout, run messages, etc. They are occasionally called the Fleet or the Clowder.
Keepers (Discipline)– The ones who keep the histories, watch the kits, etc. Mostly the elderly, but also made up of permanent Queens.
Some details about Apprentices and Training:
Apprentices are trained in– typically– groups of 4-6. The group is trained by one cat from each discipline, totaling in 4 mentors for one group. So that means 1 Hunter, 1 Defender, 1 Keeper and 1 Healer per group of 4 apprentices. Mondays will have "Hunter" mentors lead the training session, with the other three mentors acting as teaching aids. Tuesdays will have "Defender" mentors. Wednesdays "Healer" mentors lead the lessons. Thursdays will have lectures with the "Keeper" mentors. Friday is the day off for apprentices, where they can catch up on chores, sleep in, relax– do what they want, within reason. Saturdays and Sundays will be "Game" or "Challenge" days, and at the beginning of each week I will announce what "game" will be played on either Saturday or Sunday, depending on when more people can come on. A list of challenges and games will be given at the end of this post. All cats will have a basic understanding of each discipline but by the time their ceremony arrives, they will have a discipline they are most inclined to joining.
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Post by Featherwing on Dec 21, 2016 23:47:29 GMT -5
Hey Clover,
I was thinking less when a sister dies and more like a member in general. Hierarchies shift and change when any member dies, at least the lower ranks do when a normal member dies. There might be a power vacuum when a 'sister' dies/retires and perhaps another relative of that family branch takes the place.
But let me hear your idea, I'm curious
[Also could you delete your first post, so it could be more seamless with the helper section and the OG post? Thanks!]
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Post by Featherwing on Dec 22, 2016 0:12:59 GMT -5
Loving the names, my only issue is that should it be so organized into genders? In real feral clutters, the males and females would have the same duties– much like in the warriors series. However, the females would rule the roost so to speak so should they be organized into gender specific groups?
This is a dilemma.. hmm..
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Post by ♡ Bun ♡ on Dec 22, 2016 2:27:07 GMT -5
I like the idea of the council and the four leaders, but what is at least one leader from each clan was in the council. then the rest is made up by the leaders parents or just really good friends.
So male and females would share the same duties except for the leaders and council members.
But what if we did separate it into groups but not gender them out, depending on their skills is what group they get placed in. Like in a tribe, there would be hunters/cleaners and handy toms and then protectors and patrol warriors
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Post by ♡ Bun ♡ on Dec 22, 2016 2:27:55 GMT -5
could I claim a leader?
What were you thinking of names for the clans, I have a bunch of ideas. I just would need a theme.
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Post by Featherwing on Dec 22, 2016 22:04:25 GMT -5
Hey y'all! I had a think on it today during work. Perhaps, as Spirit suggested, we could delegate cats to different tasks based on their skills. All apprentices should be trained in all skills, however some will show proficiency for one thing in particular and thus that is where they are assigned. Perhaps this could also happen to subtle gender connotations, which might be an interesting tension for future plots– that way Sweet's suggestion can also be included.
[I.E a female is built a bit larger than what is considered "socially acceptable" and thus sorted into the Defender Class which has a history of usually being a "male" thing. OR BETTER YET. Maybe the "defender class" is usually females? But a male is selected to join their ranks at his ceremony and they are skeptical of his abilities. That'd be interesting. Bringing in social issues could be fun.
Keep in mind this is starting with ONE clan who has four "leaders"; They make up the ruling faction, as they are the ones who first claimed the territory– everyone defers to them. It might be interesting if they also happen to "lead" the four classes. We can say the healers, the hunters, the defenders and the... what? I'm thinking we could call them Keepers– they are the ones who raise the little ones, keeping the histories and the stories alive. Those who've got a good memory. They may act as secondary Defenders, specifically for camp. The Council could be made up of the most respected members of the Clutter outside of the Four.
Sure, Spirit!
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Post by ♡ Bun ♡ on Dec 22, 2016 23:00:03 GMT -5
I like that idea.]
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Post by Featherwing on Dec 23, 2016 16:11:53 GMT -5
So I updated the "what we've covered" section. Tell me what you think!
As for the name, I'm thinking we could figure out the territory first and then use the name from something prominent in the territory.
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Post by a diamond's pearl on Dec 23, 2016 16:39:41 GMT -5
I'd like to help! This seems like an interesting little roleplay.
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Post by Featherwing on Dec 24, 2016 18:45:10 GMT -5
Loving the forest idea. Maybe there are mountains in the distance– far enough away that it is at LEAST a week's journey to get to the base.
Anyone have any alternative suggestions?
Welcome Silver!
On another note, I'm coming up with a few short "stories" that Keepers can tell kits and apprentices. Like.. lessons. Lectures and what not. I'm also thinking that apprentices train in groups? In a class that graduates? That way apprentices work on cooperation as opposed to individual performance? Maybe there are mentors from each discipline chosen for each class...
More on that thought: Say Petunia is a Keeper, Rose is a Hunter, Lily is a Healer and Violet is a Defender. The four cats are chosen to mentor the group of four apprentices: Wave, Lark, Moss and Root. They alternate who teaches what, and since everyone knows the basics of each discipline, they all can assist each apprentice. Does that make sense? That way more people can get involved and training is more interesting. Thoughts?
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Post by Featherwing on Dec 24, 2016 20:06:45 GMT -5
Yeah I always got bored with individual training and every time a clan tries to do "group" training I feel like it falls flat.
So if we have multiple mentors from multiple disciplines teaching the apprentices in rotation– it'll prove more interesting. Every day I'll rotate the "head" mentor, so [ using the mentors I named in the earlier example ] Rose "the Hunter" mentor would teach on Mondays while the other three would act as teaching assistants. Tuesdays would have Violet teaching. Wednesday would have Lily, Thursday Petunia. Friday would be the day off for the apprentices, Saturday and Sunday would be "assessment days" where the apprentices would take what they've learned and apply it to Games that the mentors come up with. Each class would be pitted against each other in a number of challenges that we [ the planners ] have come up with.
We should probably write up a list of challenges and games. I'm thinking a relay race, a capture the flag sort of game, a night "keep your base safe" game... things that would be fun and allow for multiple rpers to have little "war" games. Ooooooh! Maybe we'll even have little wars between apprentices as challenges! Like, class A and C would team up to "fight" B and D. They would be assigned a goal and they must complete that goal– while stopping the other team from completing theirs.
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Post by Featherwing on Dec 24, 2016 22:15:53 GMT -5
I made a heading 
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Post by Featherwing on Dec 24, 2016 22:41:38 GMT -5
Thanks! I'm just messing around with gimp and seeing if I can come up with a banner
I'm thinking we'll just have the prefixes without the suffixes because it'd be confusing if we had four "-star" cats in one "clan." It'll also allow us to keep names from repeating. There won't be three "Silver" cats in the Clan or a dozen "Fire" cats.
I'm thinking we should avoid "Fire" if we can– unless it's Flame, Blaze, Pyre, Scorch, Ember, Flare, etc. It should be a reasonably "natural" name, things in the environment. For the same reasons tho, we won't be able to have "Earth", "Wind" or "Water" as names. We can however have Pebble, Boulder, Coal, Stone, etc.; Breeze, Gale, Gust, Zephyr, etc. River, Stream, Rain, Puddle, etc.
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Post by Featherwing on Dec 24, 2016 23:03:19 GMT -5
But what are your thoughts? Anything you want to add? Change?
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Post by HvghDuhh on Dec 24, 2016 23:08:15 GMT -5
Can I have the sharpest of the sisters? And I would love to help! I cant help tomorrow but on Monday I can (: |
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Post by Featherwing on Dec 24, 2016 23:21:43 GMT -5
Hiya Wolf! Okie dokie! That leaves the Gentlest for Spirited
And no worries, i won't be on tomorrow either. We've covered some stuff within the last couple of posts– let me know what you think! If you have any ideas or something.
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Post by ♡ Bun ♡ on Dec 25, 2016 0:12:00 GMT -5
Hey so I was just reading the front page, what if we used something different than regular days.
Kinda like in The warriors they used the moon, what if we used that but called it Luna; and Solis (If you don't know what this means, it means sun in latin.)
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Post by Featherwing on Dec 25, 2016 0:22:12 GMT -5
Oooh I'd be up for that. Center life around the turns of the sun and formerly refer to things as solis? Like solstices and what not?
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Post by ♡ Bun ♡ on Dec 25, 2016 0:22:38 GMT -5
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Post by ♡ Bun ♡ on Dec 25, 2016 0:23:02 GMT -5
This would be a cool territory, maybe with out so many rocks, but instead there giant roots from the trees c:
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